Purdue engineering professor makes finalists for Blavatnik National Awards

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Alexandra Boltasseva, Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been chosen as a finalist for the 2018 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists.

Boltasseva is one of only 30 finalists who will compete for one of world’s largest unrestricted prizes for early career scientists — $250,000 each for three Blavatnik National laureates in the categories of life sciences, chemistry and physical sciences and engineering.

“I am very honored to be named a 2018 Blavatnik finalist, which will bring recognition to my school and my research group,” Boltasseva said. “I am very grateful to my colleagues for their continuing support and to my students for their hard work. I want to thank the Blavatnik Foundation for recognizing the potential impact of the work on nanophotonics we do at Purdue.”

The Blavatnik National Awards recognize the previous accomplishments and the future potential of the top scientific and engineering researchers ages 42 years and younger at the top academic and research institutions in the United States. Boltasseva is a finalist in Physical Sciences and Engineering. The Blavatnik Awards website describes her work in the following:

“A physicist and electrical engineer, Dr. Boltasseva’s research approach merges the field of optics with materials engineering and is making possible a new generation of nanophotonic technologies and all-optical devices for telecommunications, sensing, energy and information processing. Her research in plasmonics — where light is confined to the nanoscale enabling a range of new devices to be developed — has uncovered new tailorable ceramic plasmonic materials, which have improved performance over previously used materials.”

The three 2018 national laureates will be announced on June 27. The 2018 Blavatnik National Laureates and finalists will be honored at the Blavatnik National Awards on Sept. 24 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. 

Writer: Kristin Malavenda, 765-494-3547, kmalaven@purdue.edu 

Source: Alexandra Boltasseva, 765-494-0301, aeb@purdue.edu